At the moment, Signal Mountain senior Matthew Marshall is enjoying life as a member of the Eagle soccer team. Upon completion, though, he'll be back to the sport that he desires the most -- cross-country.
Marshall recently signed to continue his running career at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and head coach Bill Gautier. He was a three-time Best of Preps member and two-time Class A/AA all-state runner, helping his team to a pair of top-five finishes in the state meet in Nashville.
"Being on a cross-country team just keeps me going," he said. "I think that coach Gautier is the right guy to push me harder than I've been pushed before. UTC is a great running program, and I think I can fit in there."
The Mocs finished ninth in the NCAA South Region Championships this past season, with senior Chris Berry qualifying for the national championships.
The decision for Marshall to play soccer this season has been a touchy one. Marshall recently pulled a quadricep during a match, but admitted that he loved the spring sport -- just not as much as cross country.
"I really wanted to end my senior year on a fun note," he said. "I still run once a week, but I know that I'm probably going to run track in college because I know that coach likes for his cross-country runners to do both, so I'll do a lot of long distances runs when I get there.
"I don't run a lot now, but I still squeeze in one long run a week."
Signal coach Les Hegwood was happy for the program's first-ever NCAA Division I signing, although he'll hate to let go of his five-member senior class which placed third in the 2010 meet and fourth last season.
"Matthew's a naturally gifted runner," he said. "He has the build for it, plus he's fast. He's had his eye on the prize for four seasons, and he came in with four other guys that had similar goals with their career. I can't say enough good things about him and I'm happy for him. He'll do well with coach Gautier."